Istanbul Airport

Not Verified | Nightmare of an airport. Too hot with no consideration for passengers at all. Miles of walking from one gate to another in that heat. The worst airport I’ve ever been too. It’s so easy to miss connections because gate could be an hours hike in intense heat. They need to look at airports around the world that make it easy for passengers. Horrific experience.

✅ Trip Verified | If you read signs this is so easy. You dont need to ask staff because everything was written on signs. It was not complicated. I was afraid because airport is not a small airport and I could miss my flight. But It was not like that. It takes 20-30 minutes from outside to gate. In Sabiha Gökçen airport this is 1 hour. Generally it was great.

✅ Trip Verified | New airport recently opened, probably still in the running-in phase: not all services planned for the airport are functional. Long walks to take to reach the gates, transit areas or baggage claim; but the directions for passengers sufficiently clear and intelligible. Speed ​​in delivering baggage and passing terminal access controls. Numerous and well-organized check-in or baggage drop counters Large and spacious arrivals and departures halls. Excellent cleanliness and brightness of the rooms. Excessive shortage of seats in waiting areas despite the large spaces available. Extremely expensive food and drink services compared to Turkish standards. Not always of quality. Free WiFi difficult to activate and some websites are not allowed (including Wikipedia) Friendly and helpful staff, but not always with sufficient English knowledge. No fast connections to the city center, which is far away. Complex shuttle bus network for the main areas of the city. If you are traveling at the times of the greatest trader, the journey of about 40km can last up to 2 hours (leave the city center in advance, if you don't want to miss your flight). Domestic flights use the same term as international flights. Quick baggage delivery.

✅ Trip Verified | It is a very good, well-designed airport with plenty of space. It is easy to access the check-in area, the passport control area and other facilities. However, there were no trolleys in the car park for someone who has many bags to pull. Also, there is the problem of getting a trolley at the arrivals for someone coming for the first time to the airport. He needs 5 TL to get a trolley which he may not have raedy on him. The problem becomes even more difficult to find a bureau de change for exchange, especially if accompanied by young children.

✅ Trip Verified | Transited from long haul international to short haul international. Required walking across from Terminal B to Terminal F. It was a long walk. No moving walkway across the main terminal which is largely an open luxury shopping mall. With a 3 year old, it was quite a challenge (used a luggage cart for her to ride on). For some people, this kind of exciting, fun walk may be more of a burden if they just want to transit to their next flight and move on. Food selections were lame. Internet is awful. Had high end shopping options, but can get those at home. Transiting meant I didn't have a Turkish SIM card so I couldn't get a text with an access code for internet which would be limited to an hour or two anyway. Bathrooms were ok (new.) No places to comfortable sleep (that I could see) for someone who has a 5 hour layover or so but didn't explore fully.

Not Verified | Horrible in every dimension. Within a few months of opening things have worn down due to poor quality construction (especially toilets). Toilets smell and the floors and seats are often damaged and disgusting. The airport is poorly planned. They only recently increased the number of signs but it is still insufficient to understand walking distance. Excessive walking, it’s an abuse of passengers and traveling through this airport robs an extra 2 hrs every roundtrip in addition to usual transit times. Planes take 30 minutes to park and the gates are too far away from baggage claim. They force you to pay up 6 euros anytime you want to use a buggy. There are no trains no shuttle service no easy way to avoid walking endlessly. You are obliged to go through the torture as this is pretty much the only international airport for Istanbul now. Someone direly needs to redesign how this airport operates.

Not Verified | Really huge airport. Be prepared to walk a lot. Better to watch videos and tutorials on YouTube before you arrive. That's will help you to get to the buses to Istanbul City. For departure better to arrive at least 2.5 hours before departure. Once you passed the passeport and security control, it might take 30 minutes walking to get to the gate, depending on the place you are in the dutyfree zone. Much more time if you have to get taxes back. On departure of my flight Turkish Airlines, Istanbul to Paris changed the gate as they changeg airplane and we had to almost cross the entire airport rather fast. So if you are old or not in a good shape, better to ask for assistance at the check in, and get a buggy.

Not Verified | I have been traveling weekly from this airport. During the opening this airport was missing many facilities. But its been improved a lot and its getting better by the day. New nap zones, seating places, shopping and F&B has been improved a lot. Its much cleaner and pleasant to travel from here. Newly added signs are really useful. They are using their experience and listen to the travellers. Wifi has been added and easy to use. The only big issue remains the rudeness of the security staff.

Not Verified | I was totally ripped off by a taxi company called Fornax Travel. They appear to be an official tax company inside the airport and claimed to be about the same price as outside but charged me 3 times the amount of the standard taxi. Do not use them. Go outside and get a standard Taxi, they are good and cheap.

✅ Trip Verified | Istanbul new airport is frustrating, way too big and with much limited assistance service compared to other main airports. The architecture is boring and there are really long walking distances. In the group of 10 persons, we needed assistance for three. There were wheelchairs at the arrival gate, but too few, and staff were not very communicative, mainly because of a lack of knowledge in English. There were 2-3 waiting areas, way too crowded and chaotic, and our assistance people were just delivered at the gate, having to wait a long time before the rude boarding - very bad! I have to notice, that even the otherwise always polite Turkish Airlines did not add anything positive to our experience, there are no pre-boarding for disabled, as is the case in other major airlines.